Away
by Jealous Maureen
Summary: Maureen, runs away from her picture perfect home back to New York into Mark's arms.
1. Maureen: To Her One True Love

**Come up with this. Really likey. Might make more than oneshot. I think this a lot better than Why as possible chapter story goes. Leave your comments. And if I get enough "Chapter story!" replies. I might do it.**

**DISCLAIMER: don't own rent**

**--------- -------**

Perfect.

Everyone wants to be perfect, don't they?

I mean, who wants to be…not perfect? No one. No one finds interest in being known as the slacker when they know they can do better.

And that was what she was perfect.

Everything about her was perfect. Her luscious chocolate waves, chic clothes and dark eyes were perfect. Her smile was perfect.

Her life was perfect. She was the wife of a wealthy business man. The Vice President of one of the largest medical companies. She had a big house, a butler, a maid. She was leaving the perfect life. With her two children that were both straight A Students. She was living the perfect life.

Perfect.

From the outside.

She was thirty nine years old. Fine lines around her face. She sat on the velvet loveseat in her parlor one morning. In her red silk housecoat and fuzzy slippers. She held a cup of coffee in her hands, watching the sun rise through the French windows.

Her eyes were half-open. Like they have been since she married her husband. She didn't look at the world with wide, full eyes. She only looked, half-way. Her dark waves pulled back by a hairclip. She really didn't care. Her husband was out of town, somewhere in Europe. She didn't care though. She just sat alone. Watching the sunset. Her children at their grandparents' house for the weekend. It was just her. Alone with the empty house and that half-empty cup of coffee.

She started humming a song. A song she was so familiar with. The song that they all sang so many times.

She strummed her fingers to the coffee cup. Enjoying the serenity of the moment. In her big, gray stone house.

_She stood beside Mark, holding his hand. She leaned up and kissed him. They were sitting on the roof of the small apartment building. It was freezing cold outside. She had his coat around her and she was still shivering. It was obviously early, since it was still dark out._

"_Mark, what the hell are we doing?" she asked him._

_He smiled. "You'll see."_

_She groaned and leaned on him, determined to fall asleep. _

"_Maureen! Look! Look at the horizon!"_

_Maureen looked up and saw the sun, slowly rising. She watched the sun rise. She watched, and remembered this moment forever._

"_Oh my god."_

"_Isn't beautiful?" he asked her._

_She looked up at him and kissed him._

"_It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."_

She hasn't seen Mark since God knows when. Probably the last time she saw him was when she left New York after Roger died. She just dumped him and Joanne. They were probably in love or something weird like that right now. She shivered at thinking about her two exs, holding each other in their arms.

She wonder what happened to them? Were they still alive? Did they still live in New York? It had been fifteen years since she been to New York. And she had no desire to go back. The past was too hard to bury behind her and start over anew. So she wasn't going to go back unless she had to.

Her husband wanted to go back a lot. He wanted her to see a Broadway show. Since she performing in Community Theatre and stuff like that. But, she didn't want to. She had no interest in going back to her past.

_Where have I come from? Why do I need this big house to make the sunrise beautiful? It was beautiful just standing on the roof of her apartment._

_Why do I need these material items? Look at what I am. I've turned into everything I was against. Against those Suburbian, snotty moms who gossip about the artists and the individuals at my children's private school. _

She remembered the days when she was one of those students. Looked down upon by others. She remembered that everyone hated her. She was different. She wore dark colors to school and sang a lot. She lost friends. She was a loner.

Then she moved away from all of that.

And now she moved back.

The coffee cup was shaking in her hand. Thinking of what she become. Her husband didn't please her like he once did. All the flames had disappeared out of their relationship once they had their oldest son. She wasn't really close with her kids. Her oldest son, Thomas, was a jock. Everything his namesake wasn't. He was on the JV Football team and thought only about sports. He was ashamed that his mother was in a bunch of the shows around town.

Her second child, Jo, was also a jock. He wasn't as ashamed at Thomas. Since he didn't really understand all that stuff yet. He just liked playing sports and sat around with his father and brother watching sports. She remembered when she would walk in. The movie version of one of her favorite musicals on. They would be watching the game.

"Can I watch something in here?" she asked them.

Her husband looked up and then back at the game.

"But mom, we are watching the game," Thomas said to her.

"But my favorite movie is on…"

"Can't you just get the movie at Blockbuster?" Jo asked her.

"Well…yes, but we don't have a membership…"

"What movie is it?"

"Chicago."

They laughed. "No."

Maureen went of the room and alone in her room, watching her movie there. On the small, dilapidated screen in her bedroom.

Maureen felt a tear roll down her cheek. A hot tear. She couldn't stand this anymore. She couldn't live in this rotting hell anymore. The people walking around. She remembered with the Ban on Homosexual marriage was proposed. She walked around the house, furious. Her husband didn't understand neither did her children. They didn't understand that she was once in love with a woman. They didn't understand her.

She wiped the tears.

She had to get out of here. She remembered when she walked into the kitchen, and Thomas and his friend were debating. Debating over people with AIDS.

"I don't think they deserve a cure," Thomas stated.

"Why not?" his friend asked.

"I mean, they brought AIDS onto themselves. They deserve to die with their mistakes."

She had to leave the room when her son said that. Her eyes filling with tears. She took a nice long, hot shower that day. And had herself a good long cry.

She stood up suddenly. She shoved put the coffee cup on the table and ran into her room.

And started to pack her bags. To get away from this hell.

She would look him up. She would look him up when she got to New York. She would go back into Mark's arms. Crying heavily.

She would go back to her one true love.

New York City.

She left a note when she left. She was rash and didn't want anyone stopping her. She took the green Explorer. She was going to drive. That way she could have time to look him up.

_Dear Family,_

_I'm leaving. I can't take any of this anymore. I may call you. No use to call my cell phone. I won't answer it. Just I promise to call someday soon._

_-Maureen_

That was the first time she signed her name. She had always been known as Marie. Since she didn't want anyone to call her Maureen. She wanted to be Marie Johnson Hamilton.

But not anymore.

She pulled out of the driveway. Looking around and rode away to the north. She worked her GPS system to were she would drive to Rockefeller center in New York City. She rode away.

And she drove to the only place that she truly loved with all her heart.

The City of Lights.

**----- -----**

**TELL ME WUT U THINK**

**Chapter story**

**Or oneshot**


	2. Mark: Appearance

Mark slowly groaned silently. He looked around the coffee shop. A few people strolling in and out, ordering huge decaf drinks. He stood behind the cash register, waiting to ring someone up.

"Earth to Mark," Denise said to him.

He looked at her. Denise was one of his good friends. Ever since Mark started working here five years ago they were friends. She had short brown hair and gray eyes that were hidden behind thick glasses.

"Uh…what?" he asked her.

"What did you do on your day off?" she asked him.

He sighed.

"I worked on my film. I got forty five minutes of sleep last night," he mumbled.

Denise shook her head.

"Go home. I'll cover you."

Mark looked at her. "What?"

"I'll tell the boss, if he comes in, that you were sick. Go on ahead. Go to sleep," she told him.

He smiled.

"Thanks Denise."

He hung his apron up and waved goodbye to her. He trotted out of the coffee shop and took the subway to his apartment.

He collapsed in the sheets. He sighed.

He rolled over and fell asleep instantly. His dreams wondered off. Dreaming about random things. Cheese, Denise, Yoga, Denise.

Okay, so he had a little crush on Denise.

He was completely out and didn't care. He was going to sleep till that alarm clock went off tomorrow at 11 AM. He was going to sleep. He needed sleep. He had been working on his film every night for the past two weeks. He wouldn't go to sleep till nine usually. He needed sleep, badly.

He wasn't gonna get up for anything in the world.

_Knock._

Mark saw Denise through the peephole in his dream.

_Knock._

Just her and a gossamer robe over her body…

_Knock._

Mark jerked his head up. He looked at the clock. 7 PM. He groaned and put on his glasses. He stood up.

"I'm coming."

He scratched his back. He realized that if it really was Denise, he didn't want her to see him like this. Hair a mess, t-shirt and jeans on. He looked like a slob. He saw his scarf on the nightstand and wrapped it around his neck.

He sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror.

The rapping on the door was getting more violent.

"I'm coming!" he barked.

He groaned and headed towards the door.

He opened it and stared into familiar chocolate eyes.

There she was. Wearing a blue dress that was long and loose. Her hair pulled back recklessly and her eyes filling with tears.

"M-Maureen?"

She looked at him. She had a suitcase in her hand. She suddenly dropped the suitcase and ran into his arms. She wrapped herself around his body, sobbing. Mark didn't know what she was crying about, so he just patted her. He pulled the suitcase in and slammed the door. He let Maureen have a good long cry in his arms.

After Maureen cried, she started falling asleep. He brought her to his bed, putting her to sleep. He watched her. Something was different about her. She seemed more tired than she was. But she wasn't sleep deprived, but it was like she was spiritually tired. Like her body, mind and soul grew too tired from whatever she was doing before and she needed sleep.

Mark yawned, realizing he only got about two hours of sleep. He had a big bed. So he crawled in the bed beside Maureen. She didn't move, saving her energy. He looked at her and smiled.

What the hell just happened?


	3. Mark: Why?

**Oh my god. Sorry for the super long gap in updates. Just, I started this totally awesome book, that I'm writing and I can't stop writing it. So yeah. I got Last Five Years too. So that was pretty, kick ass I guess. I've decided this is gonna be short. Probably not longer than six chapters. I don't know. Oh well. **

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own rent. **

Maureen woke up eighteen hours later. Her eyes were swollen and red from the tears. Her cheeks were blotchy and she seemed sick.

Mark was reading the paper, he had the day off. He took notice that she was awake.

"You okay?"

She grunted and collapsed on the pillow. Immediately thrown back into sleep.

_Damn, how long can she sleep?_

Mark heard knocking on the door.

He sighed. He knew who it was. Denise always came over on the days they had off so they could hang out. He was always nervous around her. He liked her so much and he couldn't help it. She just so pretty and smart. He wanted a girlfriend who was like that all his life and he finally had one like that in his grasp…

And then Maureen had to come and screw everything up.

Again.

He stood up and opened the door. Sure enough, there was Denise, smiling.

"Hey Mark," she said to him.

He smiled. "Hey."

She stood outside for a moment. "Can I come in?" she asked.

"Oh, uh-sure," Mark said, stepping aside. Denise trotted in, smiling and taking in the room. She had coffee in her hands. Mark shut the door and Denise sat down at the table. She took a sip of the coffee and looked at Mark. He was looking at her.

"You still look exhausted," she said.

He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, I was asleep and well, I got a bit…uh….distracted," he said.

She looked at him.

"Mark, what are you talking about?" she asked him.

He pointed at the bed. Denise looked over at Maureen who rolled over and let out a grunt. Denise studied Maureen for a moment.

"She's…my ex-girlfriend," he said. "She's been gone for a long time and well, she just showed up last night."

"Wow," Denise observed.

"W-what?" Mark asked her.

"She's pretty," Denise said.

Mark smiled and nodded a bit. Was Maureen really that pretty? He remembered falling for her the first moment he saw her because of those dark eyes that fascinated him. He loved those dark chocolate waves. But he wondered, was she still that pretty?

He looked at her. Her waves were flattened out from the tossing and turning. Her makeup was obviously two days old and really needed to be reapplied. But yet under all that. He looked at her face and still saw the same beauty that won his heart so long ago.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said shyly. "So…"

Maureen groaned and stretched. She sat up and looked around the room. She saw Mark and some girl.

"Mark?" she asked him.

Mark really didn't know how to reply to this. "Yes?"

"Is that you?" Maureen asked. He nodded. "Why is there a girl sitting…oh my god."

Maureen jumped up quickly and came over to them. That was when Mark noticed the wedding ring on her finger. Maureen was apologizing.

"Maureen, where are you going?" he asked her.

She stopped and looked back. "You two are living together, right?" she asked.

They both laughed and Denise stood up.

"I should go, we don't."

"Oh," Maureen apologized. "I'm sorry."

"Bye Mark," Denise said to me. She pecked my cheek and left me with Maureen.

When the door shut I turned to Maureen.

"You feel like talking?" I asked her.

She looked at me and slowly nodded.

"When did you get married?" I asked her, motioning to her finger. She looked at it. She took the ring off and threw it on the floor.

"Forget it. It's over, I'm never going to see him again."

Mark looked at her for a moment. Everything that she ever did came rushing back to him. He looked at her.

"What?" Maureen spat at him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

She looked at him. "Why do you think I am back here?" she asked him.

"You are running away from your problems, like you did fifteen years ago," he told her. "You just can't show up back here like this. I mean, I have a life now. And I'm not going to alter everything around you! Someone needs to teach you Maureen. It's not all about you. I haven't thought about you in about three years. You…haven't even crossed my mind. And then all the sudden you just show up here and what I am suppose to do? Let you come back here without any worries? No, Maureen."

Maureen looked away from him and he saw the tears. "He didn't love me…" she told him. He looked at her. "Neither did they," she told me.

"Who? Maureen?"

"My kids and my husband. I don't know why I even fell in love with him. He never loved me. I was just…a girl to marry since all the other ones were already married. And they…they didn't understand…no one understands me anymore. But you and the others understood me. But…they are all gone. So you are the only one who understands me Mark. That's why I came back here," she told him.

Mark sighed and decided, that maybe she could stay for a few days…until she decides she made a mistake and goes back to her husband.

**Sorry, update now!**


	4. Kiss

**So, my life has gone from brilliant to disastrous so quickly. I'm gonna probably flunk out, my parents don't get it and my baggage is multiplying by 10 each day. So, life is great. **

**Oh well. I need summer again.**

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own rent.**

Maureen collapsed on the bed and looked up. Two weeks she had been living with Mark. She has been watching him and observing him. She studied his wispy blond hair, his blue eyes and pale skin. His dorky-ness that somehow made him attractive. She watched him and she wanted him. She knew she was falling back in love again.

And he knew too.

He liked her smile, her laugh, her hair. She was still pretty, the same beautiful Maureen that he had fallen in love with fifteen years ago. He was still in love, even after all these years.

She spent a lot of time at the coffee shop with him, or around it. She liked to take walks, but she was always careful. She liked observing him at work. She knew she was falling back in love with him, even after all the shit she made him go through.

After everything they've been through, they were slowly falling back in love.

Maureen was walking when she heard her cell phone ring. She was on the NYU campus and pulled it out.

"Hello?"

"Marie?" a voice asked.

Maureen froze. "I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number, this is Maureen," she retorted to her husband.

"Oh my god, Marie when you are coming back?" her husband asked.

"I'm not coming back, don't you get that?"

"You walked out on me, and our kids. Imagine how the heck they feel right now. Their mom just walked out on them, showing no concern, not answering her cell phone…"

"Well, tell them not to worry. They can watch their football games undisturbed," I snapped.

"Marie…come back."

"No."

She went down into the subway, she knew she was going to lose him soon, oh well. She was happy to get away.

"You selfish bitch. Think about someone other than yourself. Just get back over here, if you actually thought the way you did, you would come back here, because it will be best for you. You'll have money and everything else. But no. We are too…too…stupid to realize this."

"Listen up here you . I'm not coming back for the sake of my soul. So stop calling me, and I'll be sending the papers in the mail in the next month," she told him.

He was confused.

"What…what papers?" he asked.

"The damn divorce papers."

She hung up and got on the subway. She knew tears started streaming down her face, she had to hide them, at least till she got home.

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Mark walked in the apartment and found Maureen laying on the bed, her head buried in the pillows. Her makeup was smeared terribly and rubbed all over the pillow.

"Oh god Maureen."

He sat beside her on the bed and looked at her.

"We are getting divorced," she stated simply. "And I'm glad."

"If you're glad, then why are you crying?" Mark asked her.

She looked at him and smiled weakly.

"I don't know."

Mark took her hand into his and smiled.

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Mark couldn't stop thinking about her. She was on his mind. Her chocolate curls, her dark eyes. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He was addicted, like she was drug or something.

He couldn't stand it anymore.

He walked out the door and ran to their apartment. He was quick. He knew she was sitting there, her head bowed, listening to _The Last Five Years_.

He opened the door. Maureen was sitting on the bed, taping her toes and looked and saw him.

"Mark?"

He walked over to her and pulled her up and smiled.

He then kissed her for the first time in over fifteen years.

**Okay…so…wow. I wrote that in like…five minutes but there will be an epilogue up. I just need to get a story off my chest. I love this, I'll probably end up writing a sequel Christmas break or something. So, there will be an epilogue. **

**Hate me. –prepares for the hate-mail-**


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